Descending Testicle

photo by Janelle Aby, MD

In a term infant, the testicles have normally completed their migration from the abdomen into the scrotum. However, even term infants will at times have one testicle that is undescended or incompletely descended. In this infant, the right side of the scrotum was empty and the testicle was palpated in the inguinal canal (seen as a bulge in the photo above). Because this testicle is located along the normal pathway of descent and is not ectopic, no further evaluation is needed. Spontaneous descent into the scrotum is expected with time.